the weather here has been so insanely gorgeous, temperatures in the low 70s, cool breezes, blue skies, and plentiful sunshine. it's been perfect weather for shorts and a sweater, or your favorite denims with a T. i am seriously looking forward to breaking out a scarf or two, and perhaps my new wool panama hat...just saying. anywho, this salad was the perfect picnic salad, so we did just that...on our fire escape of course. we used our rad picnic blanket (ahem, i mean tea towels), laid them out to cover the beautiful black metal beneath, served our salad, and dug in.

this chopped salad was inspired by a fresh vegetable salad in Jerusalem, and also inspired by the massive amounts of beautiful tomatoes and peppers out there this time of year. you may notice that i include sweet peppers in the ingredient list. mine somehow never made their way into my bag at the farmer's market, but i left them on the list because they i know they will surely be a lovely addition here. the tahini sauce is super dreamy and creamy, there's nothing better than when the tomato juices mix with the tahini sauce and you're left with a slightly tomato-spiked sauce! the crushed pine nuts and mint was kind of an afterthought, but i had the mint on hand and i love the flavor of toasted pine nuts, and thought it would be a great addition. turns out it was, but next time i will add more (i increased the amounts in the recipe below).

the next couple of weeks are fun ones for me and my husband. he will be turning the big 3-0, and i will be celebrating my birthday a few days later. lots of celebration and good times around here. stay tuned for celebration goodies, swiftly followed by detox!